This invention relates to the field of reminder devices for medicine and the like. More particularly, this invention relates to a reminder device to be mounted on a container, such as a medicine or pill bottle, and serving to provide a reminder or temporary record of the date or time medicine was last taken or next due.
When required to take medicine on a certain daily or hourly schedule, many people have a problem in remembering when the medicine was last taken. This problem can range from a mere annoyance to a matter of serious concern depending on the circumstances and the medication involved. A particularly good example of this problem is found in the use of oral insulin pills which must be taken on a regular daily schedule. Serious health effects can be encountered if more than one pill is taken each day; and adverse, or at least what may be highly undesirable, effects can be encountered if the pill is not taken each day as required. Thus, it is not uncommon for a person who is, for example, taking oral insulin pills to be worrying because he or she can not remember whether they took their pill.
One common approach to the problem of medicine scheduling is to keep records, such as on a calendar or otherwise. However, this approach usually proves to be inadequate for several reasons. For example, it requires a separate step of marking a calendar or other record separate and apart from the handling of the medicine container.
Various suggestions have been made in the past to put reminder devices on medicine containers. These suggestions have usually suffered from one or more shortcomings, such as requiring special containers, or being elaborate and expensive, or being susceptible of being misread.